"Native America, Discovered and Conquered" by scholar Rober J. Miller

excerpted from:

The History of Federal Indian Policy
by Robert J. Miller, Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon

The relationship between European countries, the United States and American Indian tribes on the North American continent has been one of conflict, strife and occasional warfare between different people, cultures and religions. Indian tribes owned properties the European settlers and, later, the American colonists and United States citizens wanted; land and its valuable resources including animals and furs, water, timber, and minerals. Europeans also brought new ideas, new ways of life, new forms of government and religion, and new diseases to the North American continent. All of these factors played a major role in changing the cultures and lives of the natives of North America... (MORE)

Barstow Museum's monument recognizes four Native American groups with ancestral ties to greater Barstow

A large permanent entry monument representative of an "open-book" marks the entrance to the Mojave River Valley Museum, located at 270 Virginia Way (just off Barstow Rd.) in Barstow, California. The monument represents that four Native American groups with ancestral ties in the greater Barstow area: Ute, Mojave, Chemehuevi & Paiute Indians.

Mojave River Valley Museum Monument

on the MONUMENT, MOJAVE RIVER VALLEY MUSEUM

THE STORY
of the MOJAVE RIVERBED TRAIL

You are now traveling the Old Mojave Trail, a natural riverbed highway. First used by Ute, Mojave, Chemehuevi & Paiute Indians on the move.

1776 - Padre Garces; Missionary, Explorer, Martyr
1826 - Jedediah Smith of Salt Lake City, Hunter, Trapper
1829 - William Wolfskill of New Mexico; First of the Annual Caravan Traders Bound for the Coast
1844 - Capt. John C. Fremont; Pathfinder & Mapmaker
1848 - Mormon Battalion disbanded in Los Angeles & bound for Utah
1849 - First Wagons of the Gold Seekers

Thereafter used continually by Mormons, Immigrants, Fortune Seekers, Firefighters, Military Expeditions and Sight-Seeing Tourists

Official Web site of San Bernardino County names five tribes with historical ties to the region

as presented on the "History" page of San Bernardino County's official Web site:

click thumbnail to go to official Web Page

from OFFICIAL WEB SITE of SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
San Bernardino County History
Paleo-Indian sites dating from c. 10,000 BC show that the San Bernardino county area has been inhabited for at least 12,000 years. Artifacts in the Calico area suggest much earlier human occupation, but this has not been confirmed. In the past three thousand years various Indian tribes flourished in the area: the Gabrielenos occupied the West Valley; the Serranos lived in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains; the Vanyumes lived along the Mojave River; the Mohave lived along the Colorado River; and in the 1500s the Chemehuevi moved into the Mojave Desert...

There is no mention of the Big Lagoon Rancheria (Humboldt County) or the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians(San Diego County); nor of the Cahuilla or Cupeno Indians who have ancestral lands primarily in modern day Riverside and San Diego Counties generally to the south of San Bernardino County and the coastal side of the San Bernardino Mountains range.

Don't expect the truth from Barwest on matters of Native American history or ancestral territories

The principals, partners and agents of Detroit-based Barwest LLC (including Marian Ilitch, Michael Malik, Tom Shields, Lance Boldrey, Virgil Moorehead, Katherine Saubel, Kevin Siva and Shane Chaparossa among others) have demonstrated time and time again that they can't be trusted when it comes to matters of Native American history in the Mojave Desert or ancestral ties to the greater Barstow area.

Consider the following example of sloppy disregard for the truth.

For more than a year, the official Barwest Web site barstowcasinosandresort.com has posted the following false "factoid" among others on its Barstow History page:

"The aboriginal territory of the Chemehuevi Indians (of which the membership of the modern Chemehuevi Tribe is composed) was located to the west of the Vanyume's territory."

from barstowcasinosandresort.com/history.html

The truth is, the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation is located on the California shore line of Lake Havasu and the Colorado River. Lake Havasu and the Colorado River are located east of Barstow and the area believed to be the ancestral lands of the Vanyume people.

And it's generally understood and accepted by all -- except apparently Barwest, LLC and its tribal partners -- that the bulk of the Chemehuevi ancestral territory is located to the east of Barstow/Mojave River; not the west.

The Antelope Valley Indian Museum indicates what is commonly understood by most:

"The Vanyume shared a territorial boundary with the Chemehuevi to the northeast."

You may want to review these related posts:

• Barstow official & Barwest attorney kept their knowledge of reported Chemehuevi campsite in City of Barstow hush-hush
• Tom Shields, Liar! Liar!
• Casino developer may have mislead Schwarzenegger's negotiator to get approvals for twin casinos
• Another tribe accomplishes what Marian Ilitch's Team (Barwest) says is 'impossible'
• Casino developer has track-record of dishonesty and deceipt
• Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians makes its home on the southernmost of Cahuilla Reservations
• Cahuilla traditional territory was south of the San Bernardino Mountains

Barstow official & Barwest attorney kept their knowledge of reported Chemehuevi campsite in City of Barstow hush-hush

Although publicly denying any awareness of a Chemehuevi archaeological site in Barstow at City Council meetings and in Sacramento, a string of 2005 e-mails obtained by TVT clearly indicate that Barstow Economic Development Director Ron Rector and Barwest attorney Lance Boldrey as well as others in the City of Barstow and associated with Barwest LLC were fully aware of the remains of a former Chemehuevi campsite within Barstow City limits -- less than one mile from the proposed Barwest/Big Lagoon Rancheria/Los Coyotes Band of Indians casinos and resorts.

Boldrey and others speaking on behalf of Barwest LLC and its tribal partners have repeatedly insisted in public testimony that no modern-day tribes have any ancestral histories in Barstow.

They may have kept this information from Governor Schwarzenegger's representatives as well while they were negotiating agreements in 2005 that would give Detroit-based Barwest LLC the right to develop and manage two side by side casino resorts in Barstow and earn up to 30% of the net proceeds of the two Indian casinos.

Curiously, The City of Barstow has been delaying public participation in the legally mandated update of its ten year old General Plan, last updated in 1997.

* * *

FROM: Ron Rector (Barstow Economic Development Director)
SENT: February 23, 2005
RE: HCED Listserve Draft Tribal Consultation Guidelines Regarding Local Land Use Planning

Lance:
Looks like the Chemehuvis’ [sic] may get a shot at you yet.

------

FROM: Boldrey, Lance R. (attorney, Barwest LLC)
SENT: February 23, 2005
RE: HCED Listserve Draft Tribal Consultation Guidelines Regarding Local Land Use Planning

I would not necessarily jump to that conclusion, although I’d be interested to get Scott’s [Priester, then-Barstow Planning Director] perspective after he’s reviewed the materials and gone through the workshop (if he’s going).

First, these appear to be triggered only upon adoption or amendment of “general” or “specific” plans. I defer to you guys and the CEQA experts as to whether that is required by our development and a new MSA.

Second, and more to the point, these require consultation only when a tribe has a “cultural place” within the city’s limits. As I read the definitions and examples of such sites (page 4 of the supplement document), the asserted Chemehuevi “place” does not appear to fit. “Cultural place” appears to be intended to capture those sites of either permanent habitation or of particular religious significance, with the caveat that the term also includes sites listed or eligible for listing in the CA Register of Historic Places. The Chemehuevi “site” within the city’s limits was only a campground on a trading route from, I believe the late 1800’s. We also do not know if any historical evidence has actually established it as such. (All we know is someone from the City contacted the tribe several years ago to see if this campground was linked to them, and they of course agreed that it was.)

As you know the historical research we commissioned from experts in the field shows that the Barstow area was inhabited historically by a band that is now extinct. Any other tribal ties to the area would have been tenuous ties from tribes essentially just passing through. Accordingly, I would not conclude that the Chemehuevi will have standing to weigh in even if a new or amended “general” or “specific” plan is required.

(From an outside perspective, I think this bill is likely to lead to real chaos, as many tribes will undoubtedly “overclaim” the protections of the act to demonstrate power over larger areas of territory. If there is no real independent check to determine if a site is, in fact, a “cultural place” expect a nightmare.)

Finally, this issue does present one potential problem with moving the site for the gaming development, if, in fact, the parcel that Argovitz is pursuing is the same parcel that the Chemehuevi had optioned, the Chemehuevi’s fee-to-trust applications asserts that the so-called Chemehuevi campsite is actually located ON THIS PARCEL. This could complicate matters if different tribes seek to have the land placed into trust ...

------

FROM: Scott Priester (Barstow Planning Director)
SENT: March 03, 2005
RE: Lance Boldrey Comments

Thoughts/comments on Lance Boldrey’s comments

1) I am not attending the workshop – it’ll likely be in northern California;
2) The destination resort project is located in the adopted Lenwood Specific Plan area. Depending on the details of the development that will be off federal lands, an amendment to the specific plan may be needed to carry out the project (the devil’s in the details).
3) It doesn’t appear to matter if there is a “cultural place” in the City – if their name is on the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) list, we’re subject to it. I have requested a list from the NAHC of the tribes with whom the City will have to consult. It was faxed to NAHC in Sacramento today, so stay tuned.

All in all, I don’t necessarily think this will be a way to tube a project, but it could cause delay, mitigation negotiations, etc. on certain projects.

WheatGR has re-assigned nearly a decade of financial disclosure records filed for the Bay Mills Indians to the Shinnecock Indians

UPDATE: Within 48 hours of this original blog post, corrections were made to filings with the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records by Wheat Government Relations regarding its longtime client the Bay Mills Indian Community.

Wheat Government Relations (WheatGR), a D.C. lobbying firm headed by former Rep. Alan Wheat, has apparently either confused its two clients The Shinnecock Indian Nation (New York) and Bay Mills Indian Community (Michigan) or in fact, has intentionally masked (or merged) all the records regarding Wheat GR's nearly 10-year engagement with the Bay Mills Indian Community available on the Secretary of the Senate's Office of Public Records lobbying disclosure Web site (select "Registrant Name" and holding down the control key select "Client Name," then click "Go;" in Registrant type "Wheat Government Relations" and in Client type "Shinnecock")

Records for the Bay Mills Indian Community, a significant client of Wheat Government Relations from 1998 through 2006 are now found under the client name "Shinnecock Indian Nation" for those years 1998 - 2006.

Records for the Shinnecock Indian Nation, also a Wheat client, are now found under the client name "Shinnecock Indian Nation of New York" for the years 2004 - 2006.

It's unclear why this has happened, but the staff in the Secretary of the Senate's office has indicated they plan to look into the matter and follow up with Wheat GR.

Disclosure records filed August 2004 by Kessler & Associates Business Services regarding its client Wheat Government Relations indicate oddly that Kessler was representing WheatGR on the following specific lobbying issues: "Bay Mills/Shinnecock Land Swap." The two tribes are located in Michigan and New York respectively and there is nothing to suggest the tribes share common history or ancestral territories.

Both the Shinnecock and Bay Mills Indians have pursued schemes for off-reservation Indian casinos backed by Mrs. Marian Ilitch and Michael J. Malik, Sr., Detroit casino syndicators.

The First Beautiful People: The Shinnecock

Lon S. Cohen

The curator of The Shinnecock Nation Museum & Cultural Center asked me to have a seat while Matauqus finished. Matauqus is the Assistant Curator and Site Manager for the Museum is one of the current Shinnecock residents who have gained knowledge that is almost ten thousand years old. A few Shinnecock are reviving the old ways of their culture. The Museum is becoming the definitive resource on the cultural heritage and history of the Nation as told by the Shinnecock people themselves.

With the establishment of the museum on their reservation they have taken another step to preserve their Algonquin heritage and culture. In honor of their Ancestors, whom the Shinnecock are taught to respect, a carved wood door in the figure of a deer marks the dedication and the entrance to the white pine log building.

"The Native Americans sprang up almost simultaneously all over the Northeast, according to the archeological record," Mr. Martine told me as we waited. "The most ancient records show that the Paleo Projectal Points show that they emerged about ten thousand years ago." For that reason, the Shinnecock must rely on the broken geological records and the customs of their brothers from other tribes in the Northeast to fill in the gaps. (Complete Story)

Smithsonian national land survey shows U.S. indigenous languages and maps tribes

This graphic was originally produced by William Sturtevant for the Smithsonian Institution in 1967 and also used by the U.S. Geological Services in an attempt to map 18 U.S. indigenous languages and the general ancestral territories of tribes associated with those languages.

Click for larger view

Barstow General Plan Documents name tribes with historical ties to the greater Barstow area

From the City of Barstow's General Plan:

IV.2 ARCHAEOLOGIC AND HISTORIC RESOURCES
CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN
Technical Report


IV.2.26 - CULTURAL/HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Ethnography
At the time of Spanish contact, the project area was occupied by the Vanyume Native American group. Little is known of the Vanyume other than they appear to be a small population of hunters and gatherers exploiting a large area between the Kitanemuk to the west, the Serrano to the south, the Kawaiisu to the west, and the Chemehuevi to the north and east (Greenwood and Mcintyre, 1979:28). Their territory centered along the Mojave River from the Daggett-Barstow area eastward about one-third of the way from the river to the Providence Mountains, and westward to the Serrano territory...

...The Vanyume became extinct through missionization in the 1770s, with the Chemehuevi, Mojave, Serrano, and possibly Chumash moving into their area...

Descendants of Chemehuevi basket weaver return to site of her Victorville grave and the village where she lived for 104 years

7.14.07

Descendants of ‘Indian Maria’ revive history of their people

By TATIANA PROPHET Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE — Over the centuries, the Mojave Narrows has been a crossroads — for the Indians, then for the Spanish, then for American ranchers and settlers.

But there was one person who stayed there the longest of anyone — dwelling in Victorville all her 104 years. She is Maria Chapula, known as Indian Maria, Indian Marie, or even Victorville Maria.

On Monday, the day before the 47th anniversary of her death, Chapula’s granddaughter came to Old Town to visit her grave and rediscover memories of her visits here as a child.

When Chapula died on July 10, 1960, she was the last member of a Chemehuevi village near the Narrows. But she was not the last of her tribe.

Her descendant, Ernestine Paddock Sharpe, drove from Parker, Ariz., to bring the history of her people out of obscurity.

“We want to preserve it,” she said. “It’s being lost right now as it is.”

Though many in Victorville would not know it, Indian Maria lives on through her works of art, housed at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Chapula was a master basket weaver.

“My grandmother always said the Chemehuevi baskets are the hardest baskets to make in the United States,” said Weegie Claw, a cousin of Sharpe’s whose grandmother used to weave with Chapula.

Claw now teaches the art of basket weaving in Tehachapi, continuing the tradition of a basket woven so well that it is more like a bowl.

“The weave is so tight they can hold water,” she said.

It takes six to eight weeks to make a Chemehuevi basket, working 10 to 12 hours a day, Claw said.

Phil Wyman, a former California Assemblyman whose great grandparents started the cement plant in Oro Grande, met Chapula’s descendants through their mutual interest in native culture and accompanied them to Victorville.

“The friendship’s been renewed,” said Wyman, whose great grandmother used to go to the village to buy baskets from Chapula.

The Chemehuevi are related to the Paiute nation. A nomadic people, they wandered through the High Desert from the Colorado River on the east to the Tehachapi Mountains on the west and from Las Vegas and Death Valley on the north to the San Bernardino and San
Gabriel mountains on the south.

In the town of Victor, as it was once called, the village settled along the Mojave River where Victor Valley Memorial Park now is.

In 1867, when Maria was 11, a massacre at Chimney Rock — in retaliation for an earlier murder of three farm hands — thinned the ranks of her tribe. But she and her parents survived, according to a scholarly study of Indians in Victorville.

She married Manuel Chapula, who died in about 1932, according to a census by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Though she lived in poverty most of her life, dwelling in a temporary “brush arbor” built to shield her from sun, Chapula’s sense of home was a permanent one. She lived on a lot that stands empty today at the northwest corner of 10th and C streets.

“Maria was the only one that stayed,” Sharpe said. “This was home.”

Throughout her long life, she cleaned and cared for Victorville households and wove baskets out of native desert willow and devil’s claw, always wearing the Chemehuevi style of floor-length cotton skirt, blouse tucked in, white apron and white head scarf. She spoke a few words in Spanish, fewer in English, and the Chemehuevi dialect.

When her granddaughter used to come visit with their aunt, Chapula had retired and was weaving baskets full time — hosting her kinsmen as they would travel on their way somewhere.
At that time, Chapula’s companion was a dog named Sam.

Once when Chapula was shopping at Safeway, she bought too many things to carry, she told her granddaughter. When she came out of the store, Sam was already in the back of a taxi.

“The dog went around the corner and got in the taxi,” Sharpe said. “The driver knew her and circled around.”

Chapula’s grave is labeled as “Marie Chapuli,” a member of the Paiute tribe, at the Victor Valley cemetery, and is marked by a Victorville historic sign.

Ernestine Sharpe, Weegie Claw and Phil Wyman, bonded by their love of Indian culture, hope to bring some of Maria’s baskets back to the Victor Valley for display — a fitting monument to the place she so loved.

Tatiana Prophet may be reached at 951-6222 or at tprophet@vvdailypress.com

Times Herald's account of Native Americans in the Port Huron area

2.04.07

published in the Times Herald to mark Port Huron's Sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the city's incorporation on Feb. 4, 1857:

THE STORY OF PORT HURON: 13,000 BEFORE PRESENT TO 1813
Part 1: Location key to city's history
When glaciers retreat, they create setting for transportation nexus

By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald

• ...This was the land found by the original inhabitants, who flourished at what is now Port Huron. Of the roughly 1,100 Indian mounds known in Michigan, some of the largest and most impressive were located within today's city limits.
  
  Actually, they were more terraces than mounds. One located on the banks of McNeil's Creek, for example, was more than 500 feet long, 100 to 150 feet wide and 12 feet high.
  
  In 1872, an amateur archaeologist named Henry Gilman provided the Peabody Museum at Harvard University with a report on the Indian burial grounds in Port Huron.
  
  At the time, Gilman was the superintendent of Lighthouse Services on the Great Lakes (the agency later joined with others to form the Coast Guard). A careful observer, Gilman described the evacuation of the terraces in detail.
  
  The dead had been buried in sitting positions. They were interred with pottery, flint tools, rock hammers and sinkers that indicated they were fishermen. Almost without exception, Gilman reported, they were "platycnemic men" - their tibia or shin bones flattened and showing "peculiar compression ... so marked a characteristic and in such extreme degree."
  
  Most of the terraces were near the lakeshore or the banks of McNeil's Creek, which emptied into the St. Clair River near the current site of the bridge. Today, the upper course of the creek empties into the Black River Canal. Traces of its lower course can be seen at Palmer Park, where its banks form a sled-riding slope.



• According to [William Lee] Jenks, an Iroquoian-speaking people known to the French as the Neutrals were the original inhabitants of the Port Huron area.
  
  The tribe received its name from its praiseworthy if ultimately unsuccessful attempts to avoid the genocidal war between the Iroquois confederacy, allies of the British, and the Hurons, allies of the French.
  
  In 1648-49, the Hurons were all but annihilated. Two years later, the Neutrals were conquered and absorbed by the fierce Iroquois.
  
  In the Port Huron area, the void left by the disappearance of the Neutrals and Hurons would be filled by the Chippewa and Algonquian-speaking tribes such as the Fox, Miami and Potawatomi. By the end of the 18th century, Jenks reported, the Chippewas were the only Indians left in the region...

Blogger reports Ilitch has let Fine Arts Building deteriorate

Inside the Fine Arts Building..." water has been leaking from the roof for so many years that the center of the floor of every level has collapsed, leaving a pile of rubble on the ground floor."

Photo by David Kohrman

Blogger Detroit Area Dork, a 21st Century urban explorer and, by his own admission, amateur photo journalist, recently found his way inside Detroit’s abandoned Adams Theater and the adjoining Fine Arts Building and he’s documented the experience on myspace with photos and narrative:

"Around the corner from the place that I will always call the State Theater, is a building that most people pass by without even noticing. The Adams Theater. I had no idea until recently. Not even as I watched someone juggle knives at Cliff Bell's a month ago in the building directly adjacent to it.

"The funniest thing about this place is that when it was open you didn't enter from the street. You would go in the front of the Fine Arts Building on the other side of the block, at Grand Circus Park, which back in the day was the theater district...

"The condition of the building is really bad. There are large gaping holes in the roof above the stage area. All the rain water over the years has caused the stage floor to rot, and it already has many holes. I almost made another hole in it myself when my foot started sinking through the floor of the stage...

"Since I was already there, and the buildings are connected, I decided to take a look at the Fine Arts Building too…I have to highly recommend that no one goes into this building. Water has been leaking from the roof for so many years that the center of the floor of every level has collapsed, leaving a pile of rubble on the ground floor. What a surprise to find that is owned by Olympia (Ilitch)."

The blog Forgotten Detroit gives an excellent look into the dilapidated Adams Theater and Fine Arts Building with it's stunning, and oddly enough, artistically beautiful pictures by blogger David Kohrman.

The Ilitch organization's last commitment was made 18 months ago when they stated they were going to conduct a feasibility study to "determine options for the property."

note: the photo used here is from David Kohrman's collection. Photos taken by Detroit Area Dork further document the buildings' current state.

Cahuilla traditional territory was south of the San Bernardino Mountains

from the Salton Sea Ecosystem Restoration Draft PEIR, February 14, 2007:

click map for larger image

CAHUILLA
The Cahuilla territory was near the geographic center of Southern California. It was bounded to the north by the San Bernardino Mountains, to the south by Borrego Springs and the Chocolate Mountains, to the east by the Colorado Desert, and to the west by the San Jacinto Plain and the eastern slopes of the Palomar Mountains (Bean, 1978).

The Cahuilla used a wide range of wild resources, such as acorns and piñon nuts, deer, desert bighorn sheep, rabbits, fish, and quail. The Cahuilla settlements were generally located at high elevations in well-watered canyons or on fans near streams and springs and at lower elevations near natural springs (Moratto, 1984). The Cahuilla had well-developed trade networks with neighboring Serrano, and Diegueño groups and cultivated corn, beans, squashes, and melons (Bean,1978).

CUPEÑO
The Cupeño occupied a small mountainous area about 10 miles in diameter at the headway of San Luis Rey River (Bean and Smith, 1978a). The Cupeño used a wide range of wild resources, such as acorns and piñon nuts, deer, desert bighorn sheep, rabbits, fish, and quail.

The historic village of Cupa, also called Warner Springs Ranch or Agua Caliente Village, is located east of Lake Henshaw on State Highway 79 near Warner Springs, California. The 200 acre (0.8 km²) Cupeño Indian village site is now abandoned, but evidence of its historical importance remains. The beautiful valley of Agua Caliente in which the village was situated lies at an altitude of 3,000 feet (1000 m), and is home for many kinds of wildlife, native shrubs, grass, and evergreen oaks.

NOTE: over the years, Lowell Bean has been a frequent scholarly collaborator with Catherine Siva Saubel, currently Spokeswoman for the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians of the Los Coyotes Reservation. Saubel is a resident of the Morongo Reservation in Riverside County and founder and Chairwoman of the Malki Museum at Morongo.

Casino developer’s representations biased; consultants “specialization” challenged

From Transcripts.

March 28, 2006

California Senate Committee on Governmental Organization

Hearing on Big Lagoon Rancheria Gaming Compact

.

"MR. BOLDREY: I’m Lance Boldrey. I am an attorney for BarWest, and I’m more than happy to take questions in a moment about our involvement in the project. But one of the things we did when we initially were approached by the City of Barstow to look at this possibility of locating a gaming facility there was engage a historical firm to review the pre-gaming scholarship and look at the actual, true ancestral ties to that area. The organization that performed that work is Historical Research Associates [HRA]. They’re a firm out of Missoula, Montana, that specializes in Indian historical work. They’ve done significant work with the State of California as well. We’re more than happy to provide you with the scholarship that they’ve developed on this point."

From the HRA website:

"HRA (Historical Research Associates) provides consulting services to public and private clients in the areas of Cultural Resource Management, Litigation Support, and Natural Resource History."

While it might be a part of some of their projects, there is little to indicate that HRA “specializes in Indian historical work” as Boldrey -- a Lansing, Michigan based attorney representing Detroit casino syndicators -- would have people believe.

The HRA website (under “sample project” located in the navigation links) features ten case studies as representative of their expertise, none of those suggests a specialization on Indian land claims or ancestral/historical territories.

It does not appear that any of HRA’s cultural resources or cultural landscape work in California indicates a “specialization” in Indian land claims, ancestral claims or historical territories. The experience of Montana-based HRA in California relative to Indian affairs has primarily focused on providing litigation support for various water related lawsuits; HRA has little relative experience in Southern California and no obvious experience in the Mohave Desert (there are scores of other consultants with significant experience in the region but Boldrey’s clients chose HRA to produce their study).

Among HRA’s extensive list of projects it’s unclear if any of their clients are Indian Tribes specifically or if their clients were adversarial interests; and there is no significant reference to work with or on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs or with California’s Native American Heritage Commission. On a web page of links provided by HRA as resources related to their work, BIA is not included nor is NAHC.

Contrary to Boldrey’s representations before the Senate Governmental Organization Committee last year, an external monument at the Mohave River Valley Museum in Barstow, CA indicates the presence of Ute, Mohave, Chemehuevi and Paiute Indians in the area long before European explorers and settlers were present.

You may want to read these posts as well:

• Schwarzenegger aide Andrea Hoch doesn’t have a clue!

• Detroit-based Barwest Gaming taught Schwarzenegger aide Andrea Hoch all she needs to know on Native American history of the Great Mohave Desert

• Here's a tip for Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary, you don't have to take the Detroit Developer's word for it

Here's a tip for Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary, you don't have to take the Detroit Developer's word for it

Andrea Hoch, Governor Schwarzenegger’s legal affairs secretary needn’t depend on Detroit-based casino developer Barwest nor what she hears from San Bernardino County tribes to get an understanding of ancestral claims and historical territories related to greater Barstow. Local, state and federal agencies in the Mohave Desert region are frequently involved in CEQA and NEPA activities that include cultural resources elements and consultations with tribes they have acknowledged as having historical ties to the area.

There are volumes and volumes of such documentation readily available in this electronic age. A quick review of the numerous studies and undertakings by such agencies will bring some independent clarity to Ms. Hoch and provide her with a more objective understanding of these matters.

For starters, the Barstow General Plan specifically identifies four Native American groups, recognized by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with ancestral claims to the Barstow area: Chemehuevi, Fort Mojave, Kawaiisu and Serrano. It was in fact, when the City of Barstow caucused with the Chemehuevi Tribe on such matters in the mid 1990s that the parties began to explore joint opportunities for economic development including a casino in Barstow.

Second, in developing the latest comprehensive land management plans --updates to the California Desert Protection Act -- for both the Western Mohave (WEMO, 2006) and the North & Eastern Mohave Desert Regions (NEMO, 2002) the Department of Interior acknowledged and consulted with the representatives of the following federally recognized Native American Reservations respectively:

NEMO	WEMO
Consulted with leaders of these reservations: Chemehuevi (CA) Colorado River Indian Tribes1(AZ) Ft. Mohave (AZ) Timbisha (CA) Las Vegas Paiutes (NV)	Consulted with leaders of these reservations: 29 Palms Band Chemehuevi Colorado River Indian Tribes Ft. Mojave Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Morongo Band San Manuel Band Timbisha Shoshone

Those examples are representative of dozens more.

For decades, when agencies based in the greater Mohave Desert (e.g. Fort Irwin, Edwards Air Force Base, the BLM, various offices of the National Park Service and the City of Barstow) were either required to contact, or desired to contact and consult with recognized Native American interests, they did not seek out representatives of the Los Coyotes Band (northeastern San Diego County) nor the Big Lagoon Rancheria (Humboldt County, 50+ miles south of the Oregon border); and conversely no representatives of either of those Reservations have previously asserted their own interests or involvement in such greater Mohave Desert matters.

Sovereign tribes within the Mohave Desert/San Bernardino region must be shown the same deference local and state governments would expect if the tables were turned; and the needs and desires of local tribes should be heard addressed with the same importance, respect and priority that local government leaders have come to expect.

Ignoring the concerns of these sovereign communities or simply “blowing them off” is not the right thing to do. Long after the Detroit developer feeding you one-sided half-true information has gone back to Michigan to count the money, tribes of San Bernardino County will still be here; and local and state governments will need to work together with the tribes for the protection and benefit of all Californians.

 

You may want to review these related posts as well:

• Schwarzenegger aide Andrea Hoch doesn’t have a clue!
• Detroit-based Barwest Gaming taught Schwarzenegger aide Andrea Hoch all she needs to know on Native American history of the Great Mohave Desert

• Casino developer’s representations biased; consultants “specialization” challenged

1 Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation (CRIT) is a collection of Native American people whose ancestral heritage is tied to the various tribes that made their homes along the Colorado River including Mojave and Chemehuevi people.

Detroit-based Barwest Gaming taught Schwarzenegger aide Andrea Hoch all she needs to know on Native American history of the Great Mohave Desert

Andrea Hoch, Governor Schwarzenegger’s legal affairs secretary was asked by the Chairman of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee to clarify circumstances and details surrounding gaming compacts for the Big Lagoon Rancheria (Humboldt County) and Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians (San Diego County) prior to a June 28, 2006 hearing on the two agreements.

Among other things Hoch was asked to (1) provide background on any other Northern California sites that were considered for Big Lagoon; and (2) respond to charges that the two tribes in relocating hundreds of miles from opposite corners of the state to Barstow are encroaching on ancestral territories of San Bernardino County based tribes.

It is interesting to note that in a run down of Northern California sites considered, Hoch gives the following as reasons several Northern California sites were abandoned:

• “In addition, another tribe may have had a claim to this site.”
• “and another tribe may have had historical claims to the area on which the site is located”
• “However, another tribe had been talking to Fortuna representatives about a site for a gaming facility in that city”

There is nothing certain or definitive about these possible ancestral claims or apparent historical ties to the land and yet they are given as reason enough for Big Lagoon Rancheria to abandon any further consideration of those particular sites. And in one case, since a tribe was already in talks with a particular City, Big Lagoon [Barwest] dismissed that site apparently not wanting to “butt-in.”

But when it came to butting-in on a Mohave Desert tribe, Barwest and its partners apparently didn’t think twice. And when Hoch was asked to respond to charges of tribal encroachment in the greater Barstow area, she dismisses similar claims by San Bernardino County tribes as unsubstantiated or inconsequential. Apparently Southern California tribes must meet a higher standard than Northern California tribes.

It’s unclear what qualifies Andrea Hoch as an expert on Native America history of the greater Mohave Desert as nothing in her resume would indicate a particular expertise in the field and she makes no references to appropriate state agencies like the Native American Heritage Commission or California’s academic and research institutions.

Instead, her arguments dismissing the ancestral claims of San Bernardino County tribes are a convenient parroting (cut and paste) of arguments used often by attorneys and PR representatives of Barwest LLC, the Detroit casino syndicators bankrolling and directing the Barstow twin casino resort plans for tribes from opposite corners of the state.

Hoch begins her response to then-Chairman Jerome Horton’s questions on encroachment concerns by stating:

“We have given consideration to opponents' claims. Based on our information, no federally recognized tribe has sovereign or cultural interests in Barstow.' Further, though the opponents claim sovereign and cultural rights of the 'Serranos"' to Barstow, it is our understanding that there is no federally recognized Serrano entity.”

What Andrea Hoch selectively leaves out is that by “We” she means the Governor’s staff and Barwest attorneys; and by “our information” she means an elementary study commissioned by Barwest, and conveniently based on findings and understandings as known in the mid-20^th Century, to make the points that Barwest wants to make. Truth be told, this section of Hoch’s letter (heck, maybe even the entire response letter) was originally drafted by Barwest attorneys.

Hoch’s limited knowledge about Native American history in Barstow comes directly from a study by Missoula, Montana based for-profit entity Historical Research Associates, Inc. (HRA). Barwest commissioned the study after Mohave Desert scholars failed to produce the report Barwest representatives wanted them to draft. HRA provides consulting services to developers and other public and private clients in the areas of cultural resource management, litigation support, and natural resource history. HRA has no record of expertise or experience in the Mohave Desert.

The fact that Andrea Hoch would fail to adequately entertain concerns of California’s regional tribes and yet rely solely and without question on a report by consultants based in Montana, outlined and paid for by the out-of-state proponents and investors in the proposed project, is insensitive to the Southern California Indian people involved and insulting to all Californians. This is not how progressive public policy decisions are made, and not what’s necessarily best for Californians, but rather how public policy benefiting special interests rules the day.

Andrea Hoch fails to solicit, entertain or consider scholarly information that presents a point of view different from the Barwest commissioned study; and failed to seek out any other independent scholarly sources or public agencies (Mohave River Valley Museum, BLM, DOI/National Parks Services in the Mohave Desert, Defense Department, Native American Heritage Commission, etc.) on the matter of greater Barstow area ancestral claims and local history.

Hoch failed to meet with and hear directly the claims of the Southern California Tribes involved.

It is near certain that neither Governor Schwarzenegger, Dan Kolkey, Pete Siggins, Andrea Hoch nor any other team of administration officials took field trips to investigate and verify what’s been represented about all three communities (Barstow, Los Coyotes Reservation/Warner Springs and Big Lagoon Rancheria/Trinidad) involved prior to concluding compact negotiations. It is doubtful Marian Ilitch has completed any similar series of field trips either.

What’s represented by Hoch in her letter is simply a one-sided view provided without question by the project’s advocates.

The picture below is of a monument marking the entrance to the Mohave River Valley Museum; a place one might visit on a field trip to the greater Barstow area organized by parties other than Barwest or Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale.

You may want to review these related posts as well:

• Schwarzenegger aide Andrea Hoch doesn’t have a clue!
• Here's a tip for Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary, you don't have to take the Detroit Developer's word for it

• Casino developer’s representations biased; consultants “specialization” challenged

NEWS: Tribes say Warner Springs rich with history and natural resources

January 28, 2007

THE WAY WE WERE
Warner Springs' history shadowed by conflict

By Vincent Nicholas Rossi
UNION-TRIBUNE

WARNER SPRINGS – The area known today as Warner Springs Ranch was originally called Kupa, after the indigenous people who first settled it.

Known today as the Cupeños, they came to the region 800 to 1,000 years ago. They would live there in relative isolation until 1795.

The valley's location at the headwaters of the San Luis Rey River, and the hot springs found there, made it “a natural way station on any route from the south or east through the Arizona desert to the coast of California,” according to “Introduction to the Cupeño People,” published by the Cupeño Cultural Center.

The original Mexican land grant for the region was bestowed “without prejudice to the indigenes (native peoples).” The original grantee, Jose Antonio Pico, failed as a rancher. In 1844, the property was turned over to Juan Jose Warner.

Warner's grant didn't mention the Cupeños at all, according to a 1973 history of the Cupeños, “Mulu'wetam: The First People,” by Jane Hill and Rosinda Nolasquez. The grant described the land as “vacant and abandoned,” evidently a reference to the buildings that had been built by the Indians under the supervision of Franciscan fathers from Mission San Luis Rey.

That description of vacant land flies in the face of other contemporary accounts of lands under cultivation for grain and vineyards, and of cattle being herded, with much of the work being done by Indians.

In 1846, Gen. Stephen Watts Kearney passed through the ranch on the expedition that would end in the Battle of San Pasqual. Kearney was tasked with seizing California from Mexico and establishing a government.

John Griffin, an army doctor traveling with Kearney, wrote in his journal of how hard Cupeños worked on the ranch, but also described their treatment by Warner as “worse by far than the worst-treated slaves in the United States.”

Another of Kearney's officers, Captain A. R. Johnston, wrote in his journal that the Cupeños “are stimulated to work by $3 a month and repeated floggings.”

California's entrance into the United States brought no relief to the oppressive conditions suffered by the Cupeños. In fact, they were further humiliated by the imposition of taxes on their land and cattle, leading in 1851 to the Garra Uprising, named for its leader, Kupa chief Antonio Garra.

Warner's ranch buildings were burned down and nine Americans were killed before the revolt was put down by U.S. Army troops.

Garra and William Marshall, a sailor who aided the uprising, were executed.
Warner moved to Los Angeles after the revolt and operated the ranch through intermediaries.

It appears the rebellion did win the Cupeños some rights over the ranch's hot springs. In an 1867 letter to a prospective buyer of the property, Judge Benjamin Hayes noted that on a recent visit, the Cupeños “seemed to regard the immediate vicinity of the spring as their own. I paid them a dollar for my bath, at the rustic bathing establishment they have constructed”

“Cupeños Trail of Tears,” a 2003 commemorative history compiled by the E Clampus Vitus, an organization dedicated to preserving Western history, noted that by the late 1880s, the Cupeños were totally self-supporting through farming and operations of a hot springs resort.

The hot springs' commercial potential, however, proved irresistible to John G. Downey, a former governor of California who had purchased Warner Springs Ranch in 1880. In 1892 he filed a complaint in the Superior Court of San Diego County to have the Cupeños evicted from the ranch. It was the beginning of a legal battle that would go on for more than a decade, culminating in a 1901 U.S. Supreme Court decision against the Cupeños.

An offer was made to purchase the property from the Downey estate but the asking price was too exorbitant for the Cupeños and their supporters.

On May 12, 1903, Bureau of Indian Affairs agent James Jenkins arrived with 44 armed teamsters to carry out the eviction. Rosinda Nolasquez, a Cupeño who was 11 at the time, described it years later in “Mulu'wetam”:

“Many carts stood there by the door. People came from La Mesa, from Santa Ysabel, from Wilakal, from San Ignacio – came to see their relatives. They cried a lot. And they just threw our belongings, our clothes, into the carts, chairs, cups, plates. They piled everything on the carts.”

The government had ordered the Cupeños to be relocated to the Pala Reservation, 40 miles away. The trip took three days.

The Cupeño became part of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. But the relocation was never forgotten. In May 2003, on the 100th anniversary of the eviction, the Pala Band rented a portion of the Warner Springs Resort to allow the descendants of the evictees to return for three days and commemorate the loss of their homeland and celebrate their survival as a people.

The commemoration has become an annual tradition.

Vincent Nicholas Rossi is a freelance writer who lives in Rancho Bernardo.

Find this article at: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20070128-9999-lz1mi28wewere.html

You may also want to review these posts:
The Verifiable Truth: NEWS Contradicts Ilitch, Los Coyotes say about prospects of northeastern San Diego County casino development
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The Verifiable Truth: Tribes doing what Los Coyotes Neighbors describe as impossible